Masked Royalty
by Ping357
Summary: No one would have imagined her as a little spoiled princess. And of course no one knew, they knew Katniss Everdeen, the long lost princess, the real heir to the throne, but to them that girl was lost, probably dead. That is because they don't see Her even when she's right in front of them, that is because instead of seeing their princess they see Katy Rowan the new girl.
1. Prologue

Summary:

There are multiple of reasons as to why a person would hide under a false identity:

The person was escaping a thing from his/her past.

Ex. Prison, family

The person had been mistaken dead.

The person was bored with their present life and was stupid

enough to decide to start fresh and live a different life.

The person had no other choice.

Ex. Amnesia, forced

The person was almost murdered.

My name is Katy Rowan, or at least that's who the public think I am. My real name is Katniss Lilliana Everdeen, Princess of Panem, but they don't know that to them I'm Katy a normal student in District Twelve, the poorest District in Panem.

When I was five years old I noticed that I lived a life different from that of others. I understood that I was born royal. My dad was king of Panem and my mom was queen. I realized that unlike others, I haven't experienced hunger or need. My life was perfect. My parents were good rulers and great parents.

Being the only child the attention of the entire castle, butlers, guests, and servants, was mine. I lived the most wished and envied life that a five year old could.

That was also the first time I have ever left the castle. Don't think of me as caged because the castle was huge. The building itself was five stories high and was wider than it was tall. And there is more, it stretches with acres and acres of forest lands and gardens; with stables and a barn. It served as my entire world not until I had crossed those huge wooden gates.

My parents explained to me that I was going to have a sister, a playmate they said and it was such a celebration that the public should know.

A party was to be held for the announcement of the coming royal.

It was so exciting! My mother had told me to be at my best behavior and I had gone with her to the flower arrangers and helped pick a theme she said.

We went to the tailors and I got a new dress that was of my choice. We went to the restaurants and picked a menu and we went to the square to arrange the location.

We also went to my favorite place of them all. We went to the bakery.

There I met someone, the first of my age. There I met a boy.

_Flashback_

My mother and I entered the bakery and a heavenly smell reached my nose. I saw a kind looking lady and she talked to my mother about dessert. _Yum_, I stare around the shop until I see him, hiding behind his mothers legs. I don't know his name for I only got a glimpse of his face before he ran to the back of the shop after he saw me staring.

I looked down to what I was wearing and saw nothing wrong. I was dressed in one of my favorite dresses. It wasn't too fluffy nor to dull, it was color green and made of soft cloth that my mother called velvet. It was long sleeved and had round shoulders and had to be tied in a criss-cross pattern up front.

I stare at the floor ashamed on why the boy had run away.

_Was I too scary? Had my face turned into one of a witch like in my story book?_

I still remember his bright blue-eyes and curly blonde hair. He was beautiful just like the prince in my story. _Prince_. I let out a giggle and my mother guided me out of the building.

_My own Prince._

The party was coming, only two more sleeps my dad said as he tucked me to bed. He had kissed my forehead and said that he'll see me in the morning.

I didn't expect that he would lie to me.

That night my parents died along with my unborn sister. A gang of assassins were able to enter the castle. But before they could reach my room, Haymitch Abernathy, my dad's closest advisor had grabbed and shushed me as he carried me to the stables and rode on Midnight, my very own horse. We had rode off, away from the castle. I didn't understand what was happening but I knew to keep quiet and behave. I didn't know what came on but from the sadness in Haymitch's eyes I knew my parents were dead. As we rode on Midnight to who knows where, I let my silent tears fall as I remembered all of the good memories that my parents have made with me.

**Hey! This is an AU story on how Katniss is secretly a princess. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Masked Royalty- Chapter One**

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to kstewtwihard0904 for being the first to write a review.**

For Katniss Everdeen life was nothing but a blur. For the past years she and Haymitch Abernathy had been traveling all around the world. For a girl of sixteen, Katniss knew a lot more things than she is suppose to know. By now she knows what had happened that devastating night, the night that she lost her kingdom, her rightful throne and her family.

After that night they had been on the run, hiding from however was so cruel to have killed the king and queen. Both Haymitch and Katniss know that they were planning to kill Katniss too. They knew that if they weren't wise enough, they both could lose they're lives.

And now ten years later they have been doing exactly that, save their lives. So far only once had they been foolish and have came face to face with the killers. They managed to escape, thankfully.

Katniss had to train after that incident, Haymitch made sure that if ever the events of such as that would happen again, they would be more prepared.

Katniss was a fighter; she knew that her life of wonderful service, lace and velvet dresses; big meals and extravagant parties were over. She understood that her life now was one of running, so far they had moved to nine different places and she had attended eleven different schools. Even though she had spent two years homeschooled when they were in the start of their escape, she had a quite large number of schools since she usually had to move in the middle of the school year, to a new school at least.

Now Katniss was a great athlete, with Haymitch's strict training she could swim, run, do track and field, use a sword, throw knives, tie snares, survive in the wilderness and her most favorite: shoot arrows.

Katniss could hold her breath for a good seven minutes. She could run a marathon and not run out of breath. She could climb trees with such grace you would wonder whether she was human. She has the aim better than any professional out there and she could do hand to hand combat. No one would have imagined her as a little spoiled princess. And of course no one knew, they knew Katniss Everdeen their long lost princess, the rightful heir to the thrown which was now occupied by Coriolanus Snow, a corrupted man to say the least, but to them that girl was missing probably dead. That is because they don't see Katniss even when she's right in front of them, that is because instead of seeing their lost princess they see the blacksmiths daughter, they see Katy Rowan.

*******PJCN*******

This is their tenth location so far, Haymitch and Katniss have found themselves in District Twelve.

"District Twelve, production: Coal, town is divided into the Merchants, which usually have blonde hair and blue eyes and people from the Seam who have brown hair and grey eyes," Haymitch explained to Katniss basic facts about their new home, "We will stay in the merchants area even if you have the looks of one from the seam, this is since we will stick to the cover of being blacksmiths."

Katniss nods in understanding, "Will I be going to school?"

"Yes, and you will still be addressed as Katy Rowan and I'm Hugh Rowan your father. We used to live in District Two but moved here to get a better living since the price range here is low, understand?"

"Yes sir," Katniss says in a joking tone.

Haymitch let out a chuckle, "Now Katniss, we have done this hundreds of times. I'm sure you know the drill."

"Trust me I do," Katniss whispers to herself as Haymitch parked the car in front of a nice looking two story house.

"Katy, welcome to District Twelve, home," Hugh announced.


	3. Chapter 2

Masked Royalty- 2

"Sweetheart, you better get ready for bed soon, school does start at eight tomorrow," Hugh yelled from the porch below me.

I looked down at him. _Really?_ "Like hell do I need to sleep early for something as minor as that!" I yelled from where I was currently sitting. He just shook his head and retreated back inside the screen doors.

The cool night breeze whizzed past my ears. The cold hardly made me shiver. I turned back to the sight under me and closed my eyes. Even though I was at the highest branch that could hold my weight and it happened to be located on an elevated hill, the city below me wasn't that far. In fact I could make out the ordinary people doing their ordinary things and living their ordinary lives. It's surprising how there are a few townsfolk still loitering at a time like this.

I closed my eyes as memories of a time where I once too had a _normal _life or at least more ordinary than the one I am living now. Anger rushed through my veins as the clear image of tat night came back at me like it was yesterday.

"Whoever you are I am not afraid of you!" I yelled to the oblivious district below me. I had long past graduated tears on this matter, but not even time could wash away my anger towards the people to blame… the people unknown. _Where is the justice in this world?_

I wasn't afraid of them hearing me, finding me. I was more than ready to fight them right here and right now. But, Haymitch could cover the tracks of a neon yellow African elephant like it was simply erasing footprints on the snow. No one would know we were here.

I let out a sigh as I take in the scenery of District Twelve. The town is tiny compared to the mass of the forests surrounding it. The forests covered five times the total area of the town itself. The lights just seemed like a splash of glitter on the black canvas.

With the next house on the foot of the hill, there was little light including the porch light and the lonely crescent floating in the unknown sky. The view looked better without any light distractions making the outline of the district more distinct.

I didn't realize I was staring for long until I traced the gradient lightening of the once black sky turn a bit more blue by the second. I easily hoped my way to the base of the tree. A good two hours of sleep and a nice cup of coffee would usually make up my sleep time.

I woke up to my alarm telling me it was seven in the morning.

I stalked my way into the bathroom for a nice hot shower. It was a good thing this district's public school didn't have uniforms. The last district we've been to, District 2, had these awfully short skirts and choking neckties we had to wear.

I finished my preparations and made my way to the dining room.

"Here's your coffee Kate," Hugh passed me a steaming mud of happiness. I ate my breakfast while he arranged and handed me over some files like my schedule, locker number and my school map. Hugh knows how much I hated asking for help in the principal's office. Hell, I hate asking for help period.

"I'm gonna need to finalize some papers with the real estate agent and unpack, so you could walk yourself to school today," I stare at the now empty cup while nodding my head.

The walk to school... more like run to school was a breeze. I had gotten use to running miles up and down rocky terrains that I didn't even loose a breath.

"Now time to start the day," I told myself as I made my way into the huge crowd of students hurrying to class.

I'm a good navigator so I managed to find my locker easily and grab the necessary books already packed inside it. I have already studied this crap in advance so I don't really need school, just for the hope of blending in.

I had Homeroom first which to my dismay was on the top floor of the building I shut my locker close and that was when I heard the bell. _Great, and on my first day_. I was about to make my run for it when I realized most of the students were still grabbing stuff from their own lockers.

Maybe that was just a warning bell or something… I don't know?

I stopped my obvious starring and turned to make my way to the stairs when I caught the eyes of a person standing a few lockers away from me.

It wasn't because this person was surrounded by a huge crown that he had grabbed my attention nor was it that the crowd has mostly girls and nor was it the fact that _he_ was looking my way in the first place either. What captivated me were eyes as blue as the azure sky, so clear, bright and hauntingly familiar.

**A/N: I know I haven't updated I forever but, I did now didn't I? If you recognized my description for the eyes then that means you are awesome cause you watch Kaze no Stigma!**

**I would like to thank people who have been very patient. If you could find some time to check my other fan fictions that would be great and if you had **_**wattpad**_** please follow me and read my story their too: Ping357- Me and the Jocks: please take a peek at it!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N- Hey guys thank you for reading this. Here's the new chapter of Masked Royalty! Please leave a review of what you think and if you would like to be updated on this story please follow or favor this story **** tnx ...**

**Okay.. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION. Well I am aware the start of this story seemed like it was in the times of you know, no technology, but from this point the time setting would move closer to modern times. Thanks for your support! **

Masked Royalty- 3

_Why do those eyes seem so familiar?_

Sheesh! Why can't I place my finger on it? Not to mention why the heck did I speed walk to the classroom all of the sudden? I could count eight students starring at me like I was mental. Ugh.

By now I was sitting on my assigned seat in homeroom.

I look around analyzing my class. Written across the board was the name of the teacher, the class' schedule, after looking at the wall clock I found out class starts in three minutes, the list of students in the class with their corresponding student number, and the seat plan. My student number, 26, was printed on a little box, which probably was supposed to represent my seat, on the third seat of row four.

On the safe side, it was a good thing that our move timed in with the start of the school year. I would be drawing too much attention if I was the new student, _again._ My mind drifted off to how was I suppose find a good buck in this time of the year when I noticed that both seats beside me were taken.

"Hey, you're the new girl!" a weird looking guy with dirty blonde hair and pale blue eyes basically shouted excitedly whilst pointing a finger at me with a proud grin on his face like he uncovered the most difficult puzzle in the world. This boy was seated on my left.

"Uh like no duh, Ren," a girl with dark black fair and very light eyes, she was sitting on my right, "It's pretty rare for somebody to move to 12, I mean just look at the place".

"Sorry about Ren. He's a little small on the head, I'm Linnea by the way," _Linnea_ stretched out her hand and I politely shook it, "And of course this moron to our left is the one and only Ren!"

"So you are?" Ren asked. I blinked, assessing his question when I realized I forgot to introduce myself. "Oh, I'm sorry my name's Katy."

"So Katy, why twelve of all places? I mean we all know this is no paradise," Linnea asked leaning towards my armchair.

"Well you know what they used to say, it _is _cheaper by the dozen," I let out a nervous laugh. I'm not one for interrogations. Ren and Linnea laughed their heads off.

"You're something Kat, can I call you Kat?" Ren asked flirtatiously.

"Sure," I stare at him weirdly as the statement came out as a question.

"Ugh, Ren please stop making her uncomfortable," Linnea let out a sigh just as what I suspect was the final ring let out.

"Yo, Katy!" I turned at the sound of my name echoing through the cafeteria. I hide my face behind my hair when I noticed half the crowd starring at me.

I carry my lunch over to Ren, who was the one who called me. He was standing up from his seat and ushering me to a table.

"Hey guys, this is Katy. She's new here so let's give her a warm welcome okay?" Linnea told the entire table.

"So, introductions!" Ren screamed out. Ren grabbed my hand in the kind of elegant way, the way a butler would and offered me the seat between him and Linnea.

"Yay," a voice laced with sarcasm sliced through everyone else's cheers, "I mean nobody would really be interested in knowing someone like her." By now I have noticed who was talking. It was a slender girl with platinum blonde hair and surprisingly grey eyes.

"Shut it, Elodie. You could have at least pretended to be nice," Linnea hissed at Elodie.

"Whatever," the girl Elodie just went back to eating her salad.

"So," Ren tried to slice through the awkward atmosphere, "Kat, this over here is Fay and Eli," he pointed out the couple beside him. Fay had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes while Eli looked like any standard merchant. That was when I noticed everyone seated at the table were blonde-ish and looked pretty much alike except for the standout differences like Fay's eyes, Linnea's hair and other stuff.

They had finished the introductions pretty fast and we started some small talk, oh and by we I mean them. I just kept to myself while the others talked. Don't get me wrong they seemed like cool people but I was never the one to be social.

"Hey, who started the party without me?" a deep voice came from behind me. Everybody turned to me or _behind_ me so I followed suit.

There was a very tall boy with… _hey this guy isn't a merchant!_ The lad had brown hair that was needed a haircut and had very dark grey eyes.

"Gale, I really hope you meant to say _us_ instead of just you right? 'Cause that would totally be uncool if you forgot about me," a different voice came from the back of the table. I looked to see the guy from this morning. My breath caught up in my throat when I got to see the guy's eyes, I stared at my plate of food avoiding any eye contact. They weren't really shocking me because they were beautiful, no, they were shocking me because it was as if they were haunting me.

"Well I was wondering where you guys were," a girl named Madge squeaked out as Gale took a seat and gave her a peck on the lips.

"And who might you be?" the voice I recognized as blue-eyes' asked of course _me._

"Ohh, I didn't notice you there darlin'," Gale spoke out looking at me with a shocked expression; I guess he really did not see me. Linnea let out a chuckle when Madge elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ohh, this is Katy," Ren decided to introduce me _again_ for their sake, "Katy this is Gale," _no figure_, "Gale, Katy" Gale gave me a small nod and a wink earning another elbow.

"And this Katy is the one and only Peeta," Ren acknowledged blue-eyes. Peeta gave me a warm smile and a slight wave. But beneath that smile I could see something else in his eyes.

_Maybe he finds me familiar too…_

**Okay this is obviously not one of my best works… I guess you can call it lack of inspiration. Anyway, if you guys have any ideas or suggestions please review or PM me! Trust me it would be some great help.**


	5. Chapter 4

**TO all reviewers, THANK YOU for your support guys!**

**Link: I love you too! ... even if I don't know you -.-**

**Dream I Dare: I don't know yet, but that would be a good idea XD**

**and again to everybody who reviewed, followed, and favored, I LOVE YOU ALL! and thank you for appreciating my story...**

Masked Royalty 4

"Hey Haymitch?" Hay stopped doing whatever the hell he was to stare at me with _she's unbelievable_ expression.

"_Katy_, would you be a dear and at least try to be careful? Next time do me favor and lessen the risks of heart attack by calling me _Hugh_," he said with his "lecture" voice.

I knew he was just being paranoid. There was no way somebody could eavesdrop on our present conversation. As far as I know we were all alone up in a house which was up in a hill, with again the closest house a few miles away.

"Whatever, anyway, would citizens from the capitol move to an outer district like 12?"

"Well, for starters, Kate, that is what we did," he looked at me like that was the most obvious response to my question. Well it was but…

"We aren't actually citizen, I mean we are practically royalty," I babbled, wait did I just babble?_ What has gotten into me?_

"Will you _please_ not say that out loud," _Hugh_ begged, "And answering your question seriously, it isn't very common for people who lived in the higher class like people from the capitol to move to lower places like 12, umm. Why exactly are you asking?" he turned to me with a curious expression.

If I were him I would be worried I was talking this much and asking questions too.

"Ugh no reason, just you know curiosity?" I suck at lying and I'm pretty sure he knows that.

"Yeah, curiosity my ass," It was typical Haymitch for not letting anything slide, "You better spill young lady or else I won't share some very important news."

"Yeah like I care about any of your infor..." Haymitch cut me off with a smirk. I was sure this news was important like life or death important.

"Hugh, you have got to tell me what you were suppose to tell me," I say raising my voice in anticipation for what I was about to find out.

"Nope, not until you spill about what happened today," Damn I knew his way of blackmailing would soon be against me.

"Ugh no, I'm pretty sure you are bound to tell me sooner or later," I was doing everything not to give in.

"Suit yourself; I guess you'll have to deal with the "later" then. Good luck with the suspense killing you," he whistled so carelessly as he purposely took his time walking out of the kitchen.

_Hold it in Katniss, hold it in… Damn_.

"Fine, dammit, I thought I saw someone familiar okay and not from _past district_ familiar like… _I don't know why he's familiar _familiar!" I throw my hands up, frustrated.

"So it's a _he_," Haymitch smirked ideally to me. "God I want to rip off that smug expression from your face," I so wanted the ground to swallow me, "Earth swallow me!"

"Haha!" he just laughed. "You done being and idiot yet?" I ask him crossing my arms across my torso.

"Almost sweetheart, almost."

"Stop being a douche and keep your end of the bargain," I scowl at his recently laughing form.

"Alright, but don't go thinking this matter would end today, Kat, oh no. I'm gonna be asking you more about this in the future," he devil smiled at me, "you better be prepared."

"Just shut up and tell me already," I said grabbing a knife out. I was about to cut some bread but ended up using it to false threaten him.

"Wow, easy there serial killer," he mocked scarred, "you might actually cut someone, like you know yourself."

"Or you know, you?" I tease him playing with the knife. I swing the knife dramatically, "killing" the bread.

"Okay, do you want to know now?" Haymitch asks picking up a slice of bread. I flick his hand away, mad for stealing my bread, "I was going to make a sandwich with that!"

"Well now you can make a sandwich for the both of us!" Haymitch grabs the knife from my hands after I finish slicing up the remaining parts of the loaf, "And place this back to where it belongs."

Haymitch leaves the kitchen after placing the knife back to the drawer and heads to the living room, "I'll tell you the news in here when you're done with my sandwich!"

"Here is your sandwich and I hope you have my information," I set the platter down before him and took a seat on the armchair in front of Hugh.

"Splendid," he dug into his sandwich finishing it in three big bites. "That's just nasty," I pull a disgusted face as some of the mustard drips from his chin. He cleans his face with a handkerchief and makes himself comfortable.

"I'm waiting!" I yell with complete impatience.

Haymitch huffs and takes out the guitar case that I have always found suspicious. _Neither of us play guitar_. "You know I have no idea how to play that," I stare at the foreign instrument case.

"Oh, you don't need to. All you need is to know how to use this," he lifts the case lid and reveals an odd looking guitar case, it didn't have an interior.

It was just a flat surface, "but I'm pretty sure you already know how to," that's when Hay pushed a button and a secret lid pops open revealing, "Wow," I stare at awe and the beautiful craft bow in front of me.

"My, my father?" I ask my voice trembling. I wasn't sad, I was… overwhelmed. My father was many things other than a great king. Before being king, my father used to fasten weapons for fun. Of course it was illegal to sell them, but somehow my dad crafted bows without getting arrested, though they weren't for sale.

Even as a king his hobby of hunting never faded. I, no doubt, was too young to be handling a weapon and all I could do was stare at the walls and walls of beautifully hand-made specialties made by father. Those work of arts had unique designs but each of them had father's taste somewhere in there, the same uniqueness as the bow that was in front of me right now.

Hay managed a slight nod as his mind was elsewhere. "I thought they had burned all of my father's works? All this time, you have been carrying what I thought was guitar," I chuckle a little at how oblivious I could get, even when the bow had been in our procession for so long.

"This was his most favorite, it was made for you," Hay handed me the artifact and I scan it with my eyes, my fingers running through the smooth surface. Like most of his works, not only was it made of the finest lumber and strongest of fiber. It had intricate designs, almost like the bow had vines woven along its arc climbing up. Little designs like tiny flowers that remind me of Katniss blossoms and at the tip of the bow all the carvings join up to form a bird in midflight with its wingspread apart and the tip of its beak serving as the top of the masterpiece.

I examine the inside of the ark and find something like a signature. _Mockingjay 12_.

"Hey Haymitch, what does Mockingjay 12 mean?" I ask curiosity blooming inside me. I knew about the mockingjay bird that is king of a rare hybrid mutt.

"It's the name of the bow. You are very aware that your parents absolutely adore mockingjays," I understood that part. But why 12? Are there other eleven versions of the Mockingjay?

"You see, the royal blood comes from your mother's side and your father, before he met your mom, lived in District 12," Haymitch explains to me with his brows furrowed. I know how much it hurts him to talk about my parents. The three of them were pretty close. Haymitch and my mother were childhood friends and when he met my father they instantly trusted each other.

"It's just so beautiful," I pretend to shoot an arrow, testing its strength.

"Yes, it is. Reed is very talented, was very talented," Hugh corrected himself.

"Why are you giving this to me now of all times?" I ask placing my available hand on my hip.

"It's starting," Haymitch got up from his seat and I stare at him, "The revolution is starting."

I stare at him with wide eyes. This is it. What I have been running for, training for, waiting for is finally here.

I stare at Haymitch as he kneels on one knee and bows, "Katniss Lilliana Everdeen, princess of Panem, it's time for you to get your throne back."

I straighten my shoulders and tighten my grip on my father's bow. It _is _time, _Finally…_

_**Hey guys**_**! I'm very happy with the readers' response on my story, **_**but**_** good response's need quality, which you guys showed so much, and quantity. If you have time, I would ask for your participation in sharing this story. I would like to ask your help for a shoutout to all your other fan fiction friends. I would really appreciate your share in advertising this story.. tnx…**

**-Pia**


	6. Chapter 5

Masked Royalty 5

Peeta's POV

_I hid further behind mom's legs when I hear the familiar ring of the door, signalling new custom_er.

_My mother walks towards a pretty woman, this makes me scurry after her. The woman before my mother was really pretty and clean. She had a kind smile. I blush when the lady waves at me. I stare at my feet and that's when I noticed a little girl beside the woman._

_Her eyes were closed with her tiny nose up in the air. It looked like she enjoyed the smell of our bakery. I smile at that thought. The cute girl had chocolate hair that were in to braids. She had the prettiest face I have ever seen._

_She was wearing a beautiful dress, she looked special._

_Wow.. she was really pretty._

_She opened_ her_ eyes and scanned the room. Oh, she had fierce grey eyes that really made her look impossibly better. And that was when she caught me staring._

_The little girl held my gaze for merely a second when I ran away from embarrassment._

_I'm going to ask mom about her later. She looked like a princess in her dress and with her beautiful face. Just like the one in papa's stories... my own little princess._

**Peeta's point of view everyone! Even little Peet's good with words ;)**


	7. Interlude to Chapter 6

**Masked Royalty- Chapter Six Interlude**

**Disclaimer… **_**just realized I don't do this**_

No, I do not own the Hunger Games, but I do own all my original characters and the plot of Masked Royalty. Peace!

**Tadah!**_** New chapter! Yay!**_** So let's have a deal… I just have to edit the next two chapters and those will be posted together! So if you want me to upload those I need my reviews to reach 25 on the following chapter.. So that is from my current count 7 reviews on chapter 6 of Masked Royalty, just 7 more reviews to get Chapters 7 and 8.**

**And I'm sorry for the late update and I do actually have a reason, the internet connection at home got cut for a while so that took some time fixing up, but at least now I'm back.**

"_A man is not finished when he is defeated. He's finished when he quits."_


	8. Chapter 6

"_Success begins when you begin to look for the needle in the haystack, not just believing it's there."___

**Please Review!**

Masked Royalty 6

I wake up with extreme difficulty, which was rare. I barely got much sleep last or less sleep than usual. After Haymitch shared the world of secrets to me, my mind couldn't stop tinkering all the possibilities, thoughts and questions that were well expected to be there after sinking in all the information.

To fully understand this situation, here are a few details of the past and the recently known present.

The whole kingdom thought me dead. _Or so I thought_

Snow had the highest rank of all survivors of my father's party and was therefore announced king by the laws of the book.

We suspect that he had planned the murders of my family and the other people who were in line for the thrown. _Yes, not only my parents were murdered, so were every relative and advisers' higher than Snow._

There had always been a rebellion team hiding behind the shadows in every district.

And they had a plan on how to put the true heir of the land sitting on the throne.

I am Katniss Lilliana Everdeen, rightful princess of Panem.

I have turned sixteen earlier this year, therefore making me of legal age to finally rule my kingdom.

I will seek revenge on him.

We have a plan

And it's going to take action.

Haymitch had some planning to do and had to be gone for a few days to attend a secret meeting with District Twelve's head of rebellion. And just like that I was as alone. _For my safety_ I'm not allowed to attend the frequent meetings and am only allowed to witness the really _really_ important ones which are probably going to rarely occur.

I hate how this position makes me fragile and delicate. Like anything and anyone can break me. But on the other side I am freakishly psyched to be able to kil… do something to Snow.

These thoughts go through my mind as I take a well needed shower. I let those thoughts temporarily drain away with the water, the warmth blooming where the droplets hit my skin. I have always enjoyed showers. I could easily forget my worries or could think of a solution for them.

When I'm finished with my shower I slip on some jeans and shirt. I comb through my shoulder length hair, missing the now invisible length it used to have. Before me moved to Twelve, my hair had reached my waist and was usually in a braid, but for the sake of our "secret" I had to change my appearance from time to time. There was once a time where I allowed Hay to dye my hair blonde. I hated it. I forced Haymitch to dye it back to its natural brown color after a few days.

I tie my hair into a half ponytail and make myself some breakfast downstairs.

While eating my bacon I can't help but stare at the fake guitar case on top of the fire place. All I wanted was to grab the bow and the quiver of arrows that we had in our weapon stock and run off to the surrounding woods and shoot some arrows, _but_ today's a school day so I ended up grabbing my messenger bag and extra cash in our little cash stock and run down the hill to shoot some numbers. _Yay!_

By the time I've reached the school the warning bell let out. I hurriedly ran to my locker and barter my homework books for my class ones and rush up to first period. I had dodged most of the students who were in their way to their classrooms and have made it to the top of the stairs when I remember that my first class was English since we only had homeroom on Mondays.

I inwardly groan when I recall the note on my schedule stating that the first English lesson was at the library, which was on the ground floor in a different building. _Shit_. I had only managed to turn halfway when had realized that my bag strap had managed to push itself out of my shoulder without me noticing. And that was a millisecond too late to realize that it was on the floor, fifty milliseconds too late to realize my feet were tangled in it, and a second too late to realize that I tripped and was about to make a huge head first fall down the first flight of stairs under me.

And more importantly I was around a minute too late to realize that someone was behind me.

Right now I was inside the nurse's office with an icepack at hand. And no, it wasn't for me.

Well you see most of you would have thought that I fell towards complete injury when I tripped _or_ that somebody had saved me but no, none of the above. I wasn't as close to that lucky.

As you recall, I am not clumsy. As a matter of fact I am pretty agile. So when I tripped and was about to fall I had managed to swing my legs over my head in a full front flip and land safely on the little isle in between the two flights of stairs… whatever you call it. And that was when I heard a low groan and mind you my voice wasn't that deep. I had looked up and saw no other than Peeta bending to hold the railings on one hand and inspecting his jaw with the other.

So that's the story, I ended up kicking Peeta's chin, _accidentally_, to how I ended up at the nurse's office slowly pressing the icepack to his swollen red jaw. The nurse had to go to the library to inform the teacher about the accident since we both had the same class and I also had a rather deep wound on my knee for hitting it on the edge of one of the stairs while landing. I had managed to clean and cover it up before attending to Peeta's injury.

I had just finished saying sorry a million times when he laughed, "It really is no big deal."

I stare at him, "I kicked you in the jaw!"

"It was my fault for not being able to catch you, yeah that totally backfired," he shook his head at himself. "You were about to catch me?" I ask staring at him. This boy wanted to save me and I ended up hitting him, I'm so messed up.

"Yeah, I mean, you were about to fall. What else was I suppose to do, watch you get hurt?" he reasons. "Oh. Thank you," I say sincerely. He laughs at me.

"Stop laughing!" I annoyingly grab a fold of his face with one hand and press the icepack to his chin. I gently press as my free hand now moves to cup his cheek to avoid his squirming. He stayed still after I did that so I held onto his cheek for forcefully avoiding his constant stare at my face or him tensing up as I leaned closer to get a better angle at his mangled jaw.

_Peeta, Peeta Mellark. I had just realized that I didn't know his full name up until earlier when he informed the nurse who he was. The name doesn't ring a bell; not even the tiniest memory concerning the name enters. All I can recall was the bread and I'm pretty sure that's not it._

"What's next ?" he says when I stop pressing the pack and tilting his face from side to side to give the bruise a once over.

"Oh please I'm hardly a doctor," I continue my gentle pressure as I inform him some minor inferences, "It will leave a mark and will probably hurt like hell," I say as I look up to see those eyes of his so much more alive up close, that was when I noticed how close I was leaning into him when I was treating his bruise.

"Hey Katy?" he asks out of the blue. I momentarily stop the healing, "Yeah?" I stare at his expression; his eyebrows were furrowed together like his was thinking of something deep.

He shakes his head like he was dismissing his idea, "Thank you." He flashed me a convincing grin showing off his straight white teeth. I knew that he wasn't thinking about saying thank you to me but I decided to let it slide. "Well I kind of have to do this since I'm the one that caused it right?" I let out a little chuckle.

"So, where were you from before you moved?" he asked, starting a conversation.

"Well, I lived in District Two before here," I say.

"How do you like it so far, District Twelve I mean," he takes the ice from my hand and starts doing it himself. I try to get the pack back but he swats my hand away, "You're right about not being a doctor." He laughs as he gently presses the pack himself.

I scowl at him and he just smiles at me in return. "You forgot to answer my question," Peeta reminds me. "Oh, I don't really know much of the District. I haven't exactly explored yet," I pick at the loose threads of the hospital bed's linens.

"How about I show you around some time?" My eyes immediately shot up to meet his as I was actually surprised at his suggestion. "I mean only if you want to," he scratched the back of his neck. "That would be great," I say still shocked he even thought about helping me.]

He gives me a much happier smile as he stands up and offers his hand. I let him help me stand even though I was more than capable of doing so myself. He leads me to the front of the clinic just in time with the nurse entering the room. "Thank you Miss Lydia, we'll be on our way to second period now." Peeta smiles at the nurse who nods in return. Peeta and I didn't have any classes together until lunch so he showed me to second period before the bell rang and he hurriedly made his way to his class, waving goodbye and shouting after me, "See you at lunch!"

I nod and wave back as I entered the room. Peeta Mellark isn't that bad, he isn't bad at all.


	9. Chapter 7

"_Tolerate imperfect friends. Perfect friends don't exist."_

**Please Review!**

Masked Royalty 7-

The rest of the morning classes went by with me hardly paying attention. The only time that I actually interacted was on third period when I realized that Madge and Gale were in that class.

They were a really cute couple and were very interesting people. Even though I didn't have any morning classes with Ren or Linnea I was glad that I made friends with both Gale and Madge. Madge had a really sweet personality and was a bit quiet that made you wonder how she ended up being together with Gale, who was a bit cocky and talkative. But their personalities complimented each other's perfectly.

By the time lunch rolled by I was merely dragging myself to the long cafeteria line. I wish I had just brought lunch today but my stomach was way to empty for me to complain. I had fished out a club sandwich and made my way to Linnea's table.

I took a sit beside Linnea, who had greeted me with a warm hug, and Ren who sent a wink my way. I scanned the large group but didn't see Peeta yet. When Gale and Madge finally made it to the table and sat across from us, we talked about how Gale had first joined in their group.

"Trust me, Gale took his time. He used to hate us "townies"," Ren said flicking a pea at Gale's direction. His plan backfired when Gale had managed to catch it between his teeth and ate it. "I really think hate is too strong of a word, dislike maybe," Gale brought to his defense.

"Dislike my ass. You use to call us spoiled rich brats and sent us dirty looks like all the time," Linnea said leaning back on her chair so that it was only standing on its back legs.

"Whatever," we laughed as Gale put on a frown.

"What changed his mind?" I ask the gang.

"Well, he met Peeta and Madge," Eli said. "Gale used to like Peeta too?" I said holding back a laugh.

"Hell no!" Gale shouted as Madge told him, "It was just a joke Gale." We all burst out laughing.

"Gale had "accidentally" elbowed Madge in the face, which had caused a misunderstanding that led to Peeta having a talk with Gale, being Madge's cousin and all," Lin explained.

Peeta and Madge are cousins, got it.

"And that eventually led to Gale and Madge falling in love and Peeta becoming his best friend. And don't ask us, we have no idea how it came to that, it just did," Ren said.

Gale scowled at him again just as Peeta joined the group. He had only managed to give me a smile when Elodie started shamelessly flirting with him.

Lin followed my gaze to the two and whispered to my ear, "What a slut." I stare at her dumbfounded. "What? We aren't friends she just sits here because Peeta sits here."

"Are they together or something," I couldn't help feel weird at the thought of it.

"They used to be, but he called it off and she isn't quite over him yet. Don't worry, he's all yours," Lin smirks at me as I scowl at her and mess up her hair. She does and evil laugh and flicks her fries at me.

But somehow, I feel relieved inside.

I walk through the doors with other students zooming past me. School had just ended and students are pretty excited about that. I got pushed, shoved, stepped on and squished about a hundred times in the past three minutes of dismissal. A small sigh escapes my lips as I finally managed to escape the stampede of students and made it to the path of home.

I barely walked another step when two large hands cover my eyes. I let out a yelp and elbow my attacker. The hands slip away from my eyes and I hear a deep groan from behind me. I turn around ready to attack when I see a familiar looking Peeta. He was now bending over with his arms around his ribs. "Shit!" I immediately feel guilty and crunch down beside him, "I'm so sorry Peeta. I thought you were a bad guy or something." Peeta takes deep breaths and slowly stands up on his two feet, his right hand cradling his left side. "Ahh it's my fault for _trying_ to surprise you," he waves his hand dismissively.

"I'm really sorry, again." I say. He laughs and stands straighter, the pain must have passed by now. I am sure that I must have elbowed him really hard. "I think you'll be the death of me Miss Rowan, literally." I scowl as he says that.

"So, how about that tour?" he cheekily smiled at me.

Peeta had already managed to walk me a few blocks into the seam. It was pretty big but most of it was just the same old, worn out, coal dust-covered houses. "Most people here barely make it," Peeta says as we pass a few skinny looking children play with an old car wheel, "Even merchants have a difficult time, how much more do these people suffer?" Peeta seemed to really care for these citizens. I mean I understand his concern. Hugh had told me that most children here die of starvation.

We continue walking on until we pass by the mines. We only make it a few meters away since Peeta says it is too dangerous. He explained that Mine explosion were very rare though very lethal. The latest one had been around ten years ago. Peeta had told me that a lot of mine workers had died on that day; one of those had been Gale's father. I was shocked to have learned that the joyful arrogant boy had lost his father at a very young age. That must have been hard for him given that I also knew that he was the oldest. I have experienced the loss of both, but I have always had Haymitch with me so I wasn't in deep trouble.

I guess the odds aren't in our favor after all.

We trace our steps back until we cross our school and head to the direction of town. Peeta showed me the few points which I already knew like the Town Square and the Justice Building, but he also showed me a few shops scattered around the square.

We came to stop at a little store that had the smell of baked bread wafting from it, the bakery. "Are you hungry? We could come and grab a bite," Peeta asked jabbing his thumb at the door's direction. "Um, sure."

We entered the building as a little jing of a bell echoed signaling our arrival. I get a sense of déjà vu but dismiss it as I have been to a lot of bakeries before.

"Hey Rye," Peeta greets a large man behind the counter. He had pale blonde hair and deep blue eyes, "Yo Peet, who might this beauty, be?" I scowl at _Rye. _"Here name's Katy, she's new," that was all he got to say before he dragged me in to the kitchen.

"Are we allowed to be here?" I ask. "Yeah it's cool. I work part time here," he says as he opens a fridge and takes out a few things, "Madge's dad, the mayor owns the business." "You bake?" I ask smiling.

"Yeah, is there anything wrong with that?" he smirks at me whilst tying an apron on.

"Nothing, I just didn't peg you as a baker," I take a sit on the counter. "What do your parents do, are they bakers?" I ask staring at him as mixes some stuff into a bowl. "You could say that. Well, they were," Peeta stops what he was doing for a moment before he continues again, "They died a few years back."

I stare at his face looking for any sign of grief, but I find none, "I'm sorry for asking." "Nah, you didn't know. Plus I was pretty young so I don't remember much. I have lived with my Uncle, Mayor Undersee, for as long as I remember," He begins to knead the dough.

"Do you mind me asking?" I say as I stand, wash my hands and help him form the bread into little buns. "Shoot." "What are these?" I ask holding up a little ball of dough. He laughs and stares at the dough, "For a second there I thought it was personal. They are cheese buns," he takes the dough from me and places a slice of cheese on top. I smile as he stuffs a cube of it inside.

Peeta gracefully takes the tray out of the oven and sets it to cool. "You're hungry," he says as he drags his finger down from his lip to his chin signing that I'm drooling. I immediately turn away and check for drool only to turn back and frown at him, "I wasn't drooling."

Peeta laughs a big hearty laugh and ruffles my hair. I swat his hand away, "Don't do that." "What this?" he does it again. I lean away from him, "Yes that."

He turns to grab a bun and takes a bite. He then stuffed the same one into my mouth, "Hey!" I yell through cheese buns. Then the taste suddenly hits me, they were so good! I moan and close my eyes as the cheese melts in my mouth. I hear Peeta chuckle from beside me and I playfully shove him.

We eat a few more buns before Peeta wrapped a few and gave them to me. The sun was almost setting so he decided to walk me home.

**This is the double chapter part one! Even if I already posted my deal please don't stop reviewing! I really appreciate your opinion… Please Review what you think, Follow if you want to read more and Favor if you enjoyed it! **

**P.s. Thanks to everyone who reviewed for the deal ;)**

That's not the end! I have decided to merge both chapters since Masked Royalty Eight is pretty short so…

"_A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks."_

I walked beside Peeta on the way home, but my mind in elsewhere. I keep remembering something but it keeps fading away before I actually remember it. Ugh, I won't be able to sleep tonight until I figure this out.

"Katy, are you okay?" Peeta asks. It was then that I noticed that we or _I_ had stopped walking and Peeta was a few paces in front of me. "Yeah I'm fine, something's just bothering me," I give him a small smile hoping he drops the topic. Thankfully he does and we keep walking.

We reach the top of the hill just as the sun begins to set and Peeta drags me to the large tree just at the edge. "What's your favorite color?" he asks out of nowhere. I look at him weirdly, "Green, what's yours?" "Orange," before I could remark about how disgusting orange is he grabs my hand and bends my fingers so that I'm pointing and moves it to point at the sunset, "not the bright kind a bit more muted," he says, "like the sunset." I stare at the whirls of pink, purple, yellow and indeed orange. I focus on the beauty of the color. The soft streaks of orange just as the sun's at the horizon. Beautiful.

A smile goes to my lips as I turn to look at Peeta. The sunset makes his blonde hair more golden, but his eyes are clearer. They are gentler as they reflect the evening colors but you could see the blue in them, the bluest eyes I have seen, even bluer than…_ my little Prince._

My eyes shot open as I piece things together, the bakery, the blue eyes and blonde hair. That was all Peeta. I stand up suddenly and am about to run when I feel Peeta's hand on my wrist, "Hey, where are you going?" I stare at Peeta's handsome face and decide that I should make sure if he was _him_.

"How did your parents die?" I ask. This catches him off guard, but it doesn't faze him, "They died in a fire at our old bakery," he doesn't stop there, "I was there, too." I stared not knowing what to say but he continued, "But I don't remember anything, you see I have something like amnesia, but it's pretty mild since I had bumped my head at a very young age during the accident. I just don't remember anything before I woke up in the hospital with a man saying he's my Uncle saying that I had to move to District 12, very far from the Capitol." I can see the sadness in his eyes. He doesn't remember his parents, he doesn't remember anything, and he doesn't remember me.

I don't know what to do so I grab his hand and give it a little squeeze. He gives me a small smile.

Hours after that I am lying on my bed staring at the plain ceiling again, that was Peeta. I laugh and smile like a maniac. Peeta had been my Prince all along. But, he doesn't remember. I highly doubt he would remember even without amnesia. It's probably better since he probably would figure out I was Katniss Everdeen. I guess my fairy tale ending's not going as planned

**PLEASE DON"T KILL ME! CHAPTER 9 or 8 WILL BE OUT IN A FEW DAYS SO WATCH OUT!**


	10. Chapter 8

Masked Royalty 8

It's been two days since Peeta walked me home and I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that first Peeta used to live in the Capitol, a small town at the center of the kingdom where the castle is located, and piecing together that he was the boy at the bakery means that his family was probably killed by the same people that killed mine, that fire wasn't an accident. And I can't believe he doesn't remember!

But it's quite ironic that he used to be a Capitol citizen, which was in high school terms, at the top of the food chain, and now he lives here, in District Twelve I mean, the poorest District.

Haymitch arrived home yesterday informing me that we were going to District 4 this weekend. A secret meeting will be held, a really _really _important one. It will be the first time in eleven years that I will be recognized, in public, that I am Katniss Everdeen_._

"We're going there on the last train tomorrow night so you better start packing," he said.

"Yeah, how exactly will this meeting work out? Won't it be dangerous to reveal my identity this early on?" I say. If there was to be a spy amongst us I'm pretty sure they could track us down once they no what I look like.

"Yes it will be that is why the meeting will be in the form of a ball," I gawk at him, a ball means formal, and formal means dresses, "a masquerade ball."

"Great, one of the most exciting times of my life and I have to spend it the worst way possible!" I scowl as I mentally picture how girly I would have to look like.

"All of the preparations will be done at Four, so no need to worry about that," Haymitch said with a sarcastic tone.

"Yay!" I say with a great big fake smile.

I first tried using the bow that night. The bow was very delicate so I was nervous using it for the first time. I was only able to shoot three arrows at an ordinary target range. I had missed the bull's eye by a few inches on the first try, but adapted easily to the bow's qualities by the second.

Haymitch and I talked a little more about the rebellion before he retired to bed.

That night I was torn between thinking two thoughts one about Peeta and one about Katniss.

*******PJCN*******

Today's the day we were going to District Four so nobody could really blame me for not paying attention in class, I mean I already know this stuff so there really is no need to learn all this crap again right?

I'm taken back to reality when I realize someone's talking to me, "Hey Kat, are you eating that," Ren asks pointing at my untouched apple. I shrug, "Neh, it's all yours."

He gives me a wide grin and reaches from across me to snag the apple, "Thanks." I take a sip of my juice and stare at the wall clock. I could feel Peeta's stare from the other end of the table. I wouldn't blame him since one moment he was walking me home and we were happily talking and the next, I am avoiding him in the most oblivious ways possible. I knew both of us had a good time yester day and I feel guilty for doing that to him, but I find it extremely awkward since I'm pretty sure I had a crush on him back then. I'm never an expert on the romance department.

I continue my stealth mode and try to pretend that I don't notice him. I stare at my now empty plate and had managed to join in on Madge and Linnea's conversation about cafeteria food, successfully keeping distance from Peeta throughout lunch.

The rest of the classes went buy with no Peeta incidents and I could finally make it home to safety. I make my way through the sea of students successfully dodging them this time. The air outside seems much more fresh and clean than it does indoors. I have always liked the outdoors even before the accident. I remember the first time I had explored our gardens alone. I think I was around four when I had sneaked out of my room and ran off to the flower gardens, a fluffy teddy bear at hand. Sure it isn't as badass as running off into the woods, but for my little body and childish mind I felt like I had done the most exciting thing ever. I spent a few minutes the admiring the different flowers that I had yet to learn the names of before a maid had found me and dragged me back into the castle.

After that day I made sure to ask permission _before_ running off to explore, this made my trips longer too. I have always loved the castle grounds and…

"Katy!" My feet stop walking as I look for the owner of the voice. I see Peeta running towards me, there was a fair amount of distance between us and so I used those few seconds to decide whether to fight or flee. In the end I decided to clear this up to avoid any future problems. I will settle this matter in a mature way… _Just breathe Katniss._

"Katy, finally." Peeta stands or bends before me hands on knees waiting to catch his breath.

"Oh, hey Peeta," I shakily reply. Keep calm Katniss. "Katy, we need to talk," Peeta says seriously. I panic. _Does he remember, did he find out who I was, Was he going to murder me?!_

"Talk?" I mentally cringe at the sound of my voice. "Yeah, umm why have you been avoiding me?" he asks, his normally cheerful blue eyes not tinted with sadness. I feel sorry for him, even though we technically met just a few days ago. "I'm not avoiding you," I say not meeting his eyes.

He hissed under his breath, "Come on Katy, I'm not stupid. Did I do something wrong, why are you ignoring me?" he asked.

I scowl at him. Anger was suddenly blooming inside me; I never had the best of tempers. I jab my finger on his chest, "You know what? Why do you care, I mean I only met you like four days ago and we're not even friends. I'm not entitled to say hi to you every time I see you or wave every time we meet in the hallway. Just leave me alone!"

I stuff my hands further into my pockets and walk away. I start feeling guilty after a moment when I saw the hurt in his facial expression. I was never one to be "normal" under pressure and I guess I just cracked for no reason. I wanted to say sorry, but my pride is too big for that.

I brisk walk away from the scene; I never really liked drama either. I haven't walked too far when I feel a familiar grasp pulling on my wrist I inwardly sigh as I turn around to face, of course the one and only Peeta Mellark.

I stare at his eyes as he gazes back in mind. His mouth opens as if to say something, but he closes it again. I notice a few things, first his breathes came out uneven as if he was trying to calm down his fast pasted ones. I also notice that he was playing with his hands, he was nervous.

"I'm sorry, okay?" he says finally getting it out. I have no idea as to why he was apologizing when it was me who yelled, it was me who stormed out.

"I never intended to make you feel uncomfortable," he awkwardly let go of my wrist when we both just realized that he was still holding on to it , "I didn't want to seem too pushy, I don't want you to think that I'm forcing you to notice me."

I stare at him wondering where this was going.

"I know that we aren't friends, but I would like to be," he looks up waiting for my reaction.

I have to admit I would love to be his friend. But I wasn't exactly friend material. I think it over. On the plus side, we did have a good time on his so called tour and he seemed all around nice. On the bad side, some part of him, buried I don't know how deep, knows that I am Katniss Everdeen.

I gave Lin, Ren, Madge and Gale a chance right? Why can't I give him? I'm not the kind of person whose judgment could be clouded easily; I knew that there might be consequences attached to my decision, but I didn't care. There's something in the way he looks, like he was trying hard to be my friend and not only for his intention, but it seemed like he actually cared. That was the reason why I pushed away the negative thought, that was why I let Peeta Mellark into my life.

**The next chapter would show their trip to District Four where Katniss meets a few people who are pretty familiar to all of us! Please Review!**


	11. Chapter 9

_"We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon."_

Masked Royalty- 9

I allowed Peeta to walk me home, a smile never escaping his lips. We walked in a comfortable silence, when we reached the top of the hill I wonder to myself how tiring this must be for Peeta. He had to run to catch up with me and now he just climbed a rather tall hill and had to go back down and walk home.

He says goodbye and gives a wide grin, even bigger than the one on his face as we walked home, as he drops me off on the porch and hurries off down the road. I walk through the open door. "I'm home!" I shout as I make my way to my room. Before I could reach the stairs I bump into Haymitch.

"Good afternoon Sweetheart, you all packed up?" I stare blankly at him for a moment before I realized what he meant. With all the drama I had forgotten all about the trip to District Four.

"Yep, ever since yesterday," I sway on the balls of my feet as I give him a slight nod.

"Well, you better get your final preparation done 'cause we are leaving after dinner, which will be in a few minutes," he says as he walks back to the kitchen.

I stand still for a second before I continue my journey to my room. I had everything I needed packed into a backpack. I had two sets of clothes, pajamas, enough underwear and some toiletries. I take a look around the room for anything that might be of some use to me, but decide on nothing.

I grab my leather jacket and slip it on. With one strap slung on my shoulder, I carry my backpack downstairs and set it on the armchair as I make my way to the kitchen. I arrive just as Haymitch sets the table.

I take my seat and begin eating dinner. Hay and I talk about final details about the train ride. The train will be arriving around 30 minutes from now so we needed to be at the station around fifteen minutes from now.

After dinner, Haymitch checks all around the house for any lights left on, water running, windows open or doors unlocked. After making sure everything is alright, Haymitch locks the main entrance and we make our way down to the station.

The walk takes around ten minutes and we arrive just in time to settle our tickets and wait for our train.

The train arrives a little while after and we seem to be the only one's getting on it. "Aren't there people from twelve who will be joining the meeting?" I ask.

"Oh of course, but they probably won't be arriving until tomorrow since it will be held in the evening," he leads me to our compartment. The train we were on wasn't like the other trains we have been to. This seemed a lot... poorer.

This was the one of the three trains that stops at twelve. This one was probably not the best one the worst; it seemed relatively clean though quite small. The compartment was cozy and it was warm. The other trains that stopped here was the coal train and the specialty train that people from the capitol take in their vacations or something, the train that Snow uses though it rarely comes here.

Haymitch informs me that we will be there by sunrise tomorrow and that I should get some rest as he hands me a blanket and a pillow. I follow his advice and curl up on the corner where the chair meets the window. I stare at the window watching as all of District Twelve passes by, the trains chugging noise somehow lulling me to sleep.

I wake up to silence. It took me a while to place in together why I had found the absence of sound odd_._ I had fallen asleep to the mechanical sounds of the train's wheels rolling on the track and now I hear nothing.

I sit up and immediately groan because of my stiff neck. I look over to the seat in front of me hoping to see Hay's sleeping form, but instead all I see is a crumpled up blanket. I look out the window, darkness still enveloped the scenery and I could just make out a few outlines of some trees with the little light the moon reflected.

Why are we stopping?

Curiosity gets to me and I make my way to the lit corridor. I pick my instinct and I turn left. I blindly made my way to what I think was the dining cart. I find Haymitch sitting on one of the five little tables with half filled glass of beer on front of him.

A few months before I was born, Haymitch's wife died of an unknown illness. Her death hit him hard and for some time he became a flat out drunkard. He used to stay up all night drinking and spent his days either passed out or locked in his quarters, dealing with a great hangover.

It took him months of _suffering_ on my father's hand for him to stop drinking or at least minimize it. He had managed not getting drunk and he started getting his shit back together.

I hardly see him drinking anymore. And now there he was sitting there with an already half emptied glass of beer. I step closer and I notice there were also two empty shot glasses on the table. I roll my eyes and tap him in the shoulder. He looks up at me with sad eyes, "I met her in a train much like this one," he shook his head.

He didn't seem drunk, just distraught. I pull up a chair beside him and grab his hand. He gives it a little squeeze and sighs, "They had to do something about a log that had fallen over the tracks."

I knew he was trying to change the subject, so I let him, "Where are we?" "We're pretty close, about an hour to go."

We don't go back to our cabin until the dark blue sky lightens to sky blue one as streaks of sunlight break through horizon.

Just as we make it to our compartment the speakers burst into a short period of static before a voice informs us that we were nearing up the District Four Train Station. We fold up the blankets and we stuff the pillows and sheets into the bag.

Haymitch says that it was better to just wait by the doors instead of just sit in our cabin. He says that a guy was supposed to meet us at the station to take us to where we were staying.

The train screeches to a stop and the doors open, a hot breeze hits us and even in the early morning I could already feel the sun's rays getting to me. The weather here seemed very contrast against the cold approaching winter of 12 .

We get off and take a look around. The station was empty except for an old lady that had fallen asleep on one of the waiting benches, a janitor who was sweeping the floor and a tall man waving at us.

The guy rushed over to our side and outstretched his hand to Haymitch, "It's a pleasure Sir Abernathy, I'm Finnick Odair." Haymitch's eyes light up, "You're Kai's son right?"

"Yes sir, my dad was sorry he wasn't the one who would meet up with you guys, but he sent me instead," Haymitch shook Finnick's hand, "Nah, I don't blame him," I wonder what that meant and just shrugged it off and stared at the Finnick guy. I observed him. He was very tall, taller than Haymitch. He had sea green eyes and bronze colored hair. Even I had to admit with his well defined features, he was very handsome.

Finnick then turned to me and took my hand and kissed it on the knuckles, he leaned down to whisper in my ear, "It is an honor to meet you, your highness."

He leans away from me and I look away, embarrassed by our closeness and how he called me your highness.

He smiles at me and takes my backpack from my hands, "Follow me." He leads us out of the station and walk under the famous District Four sun.

The walk lasted about an hour, which showed me how much bigger this District was compared to 12. I had always wanted to move to Four, but I never got to pick our next location, since they had to be planned to perfection and Haymitch never got to time it together.

On the way, we walked along the bay area. This wasn't the first time I have been to the ocean. There was a little part of District Three that had a beach too. But this was the most I have seen of it. The buildings we passed were almost as rich looking as the one's from District Two.

They were most certainly better than District twelve's Merchant homes.

Finnick made conversation with Haymitch about how the District was like. I noticed how neither of them mentioned anything about the rebellion. _They were careful_. I stared alternately at the sea and the houses. I took a peek at Finnick once and he winked at me, so I didn't do it again. The scene started to change to the ocean still at our right, but now with trees crowding on our left.

He led us to a private looking area with what seems to be a mansion sitting there facing the sea. There wasn't another infrastructure in sight.

The area was very secluded like it was hidden from any prying eyes. Finnick leads us up the steps and ushers us to a room, the living room I suppose, where a man that resembled Finnick sat.

"Ah if it isn't Mr. Haymitch Abernathy," the man who was obviously Finnick's father said with a loud voice. Hay drops his bags on the floor and gets down on his knees to greet the man with a manly hug _thing. _

I was wondering why the man hadn't stood up yet when I notice he wasn't sitting on a chair, I mean he was but it wasn't an ordinary one. Finnick's father, Kai, was on a wheelchair. I now connect this with the reason to why he wasn't the one who had met us at the station. He still had both his legs so I assume he was paralyzed waist down.

As soon as Haymitch steps away the man wheels over to me and takes both of my hands in his, "And of course the beautiful Katniss Everdeen."

"You have grown into a fine young woman, Princess," he gives my hands a squeeze before he lets go and introduces himself, "I'm Kai Odair, Finnick's father." "It's a pleasure meeting you Sir Odair," I give him a slight nod.

"The pleasure is all mine and please call me Kai," he gives me a smile that really reminds me of the one that Finnick had given me early, but with more wrinkles involved.

"Finnick, why don't you escort the lady to her room and help her settle in while I talk to Haymitch," Kai waves us off.

Finnick carries my bag up to the third floor of the house, "Do you live here?" My voice caught him off guard and he took a while to actually answer me, "Yeah, ever since my mother died."

I stay silent after that, a lot of people have lost their families.

He opens a door to the right of the staircase and leads me inside, "I hope your okay with this, Princess." He flicks on the switch, bathing the room in light.

I scowl at him and he just winks at me, "I prefer it if you call me Katy, I mean Katniss." I got use to my alias…

"How about I call you Kat instead huh?" he sets my pack down on the bed. I took this moment to scan the room before I answered him. The room was quite spacious, roomier than I was used to. Large curtains drape the floor length windows. A queen sized bed was attending to the needs of my bag; there was a wardrobe on one corner of the room with a vanity mirror beside it. The door across must lead to the bathroom.

I stop evaluating and look and Finnick to answer his question, "That's fine." The nickname reminds me of Ren and the people back at Twelve, it reminds me of Peeta who was miles away.

"So, that's the bathroom," he points to the door I was talking about, "and you remember the way down right?" I nod.

"Breakfast will be in ten minutes so I'll just wait for you outside," he walks outside to give me some privacy.

I decided to take a quick shower before breakfast. I slip into the bathroom a new set of clothes at hand. I take a nice look at the elegant bathroom. It was color white; there was a few gold things here and there like the knobs and the mirror frame.

I didn't need the toiletries since there was a new set of toothbrush and toothpaste by the sink and there was shampoo by the shower. There was a bowl of shell-shaped soaps and a towel was already hanging by the tub. Yes, there was a tub!

I wanted to spend more time in the heavenly bathroom, but I knew Finnick was waiting for me so instead I took a five minute shower, brushed my teeth and changed into a new set of clothes. I finger combed my hair as I opened the door out of the room to reveal Finnick leaning on the wall across me.

"That was a fast shower," he smirked. "Well, I'm a fast girl," I said with a flirtatious tone. Just to clear it up, I have no interest in Finnick in the romance department; it was just fun to play. "Well, I hope you can catch up."

He ran down the stairs and I smiled to myself, chasing after him. He arrived a few seconds before me and he lead the way to the dining room. I make sure to memorize the way there for future purposes.

Kai and Haymitch had already started without us. I take the seat beside Hay and Fin nick sits in front of me. We make small talk as they ask us about our lives after the accident. Haymitch seemed to trust the father and son wholeheartedly, so I didn't mind sharing stories.

Breakfast was a basket full of warm bread rolls and a stack of delicious pancakes.

After the meal the four of us moved back to the living room where we talked some more. I mostly talked to Finnick. I found out he was 24 years old. I didn't believe him at first because he looks a few years younger than that. He continued saying he lived in District Four his whole life and that he was engaged to a girl named Annie Cresta.

I knew from the way he talked about her that Finnick really loved this girl. I knew better than to ask about his mother and he seemed to dodge the topic so it never came up.

"So, when do I get to meet her?" I ask my head on my hand. "Later tonight at the ball, I will personally introduce you," he answered, "Princess Kat," he extended smiling like a jackass. I scowl at him.

After a few more hours of getting to know both Kai and Finnick, I learned that Kai got shot on the back when Finnick was around thirteen years old, leaving him partially paralyzed. They never caught the shooter. Kai had been a friend of my mothers.

Time flew and the next thing we were aware of was that it was time for lunch. At the middle of our delicious roasted chicken dish the doorbell rang. Kai pressed a button on his chair and spoke into a microphone, "Come in, we're at the dining room!"

I was still amazed with the technology on his chair when I heard the clicking of… heels?

I turn towards the empty door frame that was the only way into the dining area other than the kitchen. The heel clicking grew louder and suddenly I saw a pink glove covered hand hold onto the frame before a woman steps into our view. The woman was of regular height and was well, pink! She was wearing a pink blouse and a pink pencil skirt. She had pink three-inch heels on and her face had a lot of pink in it too.

Her pink eye shadow had reached to her eyebrows and light pink blush dusted her sharp cheekbones. She had sparkly pink lipstick and had a pink flower tattoo on the left corner of her forehead. I could see even under all those cosmetics, the woman was very beautiful.

She had her hair dyed bubblegum pink too! She had a pink clipboard at hand.

"Oh my god! It really is you, Katniss Everdeen," she had an accent which sounded like the one the crazy people from the capitol had. That's when I was sure she was from the Capitol.

In those eleven years that we were on the run, the Capitol had changed to a peaceful nature friendly town to crazy freak show. Most of the present citizens had done odd stuff in the name of fashion. They dye their skins and color their teeth, they where weird stuff too. They also have a weird accent where they seem to hiss out the s'. And they get even more bizarre than that.

The woman approached me and held my chin with one hand, tilting it from side to side, this movement reminds me of Peeta when I had nursed his jaw. Everything seems to lead back to the boy with the blonde hair and blue eyes.

"You're very beautiful, but you have bushes above your eyes!" I scowl. I never cared about how I looked.

"We can fix that, oh my, where are my manners," she holds out her hand and I shake it avoiding her long pink finger nails, "I'm Effie Trinket."

"It's nice to meet you Effie," I try my best to sound friendly, even though her _pinkness_ makes me cringe.

"This is Effie; she's the master behind the curtains. She organized the ball," Kai explained. "And speaking of which you are behind schedule Mister Odair, lunch was suppose to be finished a minute ago and you are still half way through it." Effie said. Finnick and tried our best not to laugh at the ridiculous scene of a pink woman scolding a man in a wheelchair.

"You better get used to that," Finnick whispered from across the table while Kai defended himself to Effie, who kept on babbling about punctuality and following the schedule.

**I'll stop here. I'm sorry this chapter doesn't reach the ball, but I promise it will be on the next one. SO I added Finnick and Effie! Effie's description is a bit different because I think I like her better that way. Your thoughts Please Review!**

**This is the longest Chapter so far and by a lot too! The story without the Author's Note has 3,231 words...yay!**

**PLEASE REVIEW ON WHAT YOU THINK! I would love to read about your ideas for the upcoming chapters… please review, follow and favorite or favor or whatever…**


	12. Chapter 10

_"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved"_

Masked Royalty 10

We finished our lunch while Effie continues to nag on Kai. I felt sorry for him. He barely got to enjoy his meal with Effie screeching nonsense manner issues with her hideous accent.

"Oh so I've adjusted the schedule by a few minutes so now we are on track," Effie walks us over to the living room where seven people stood; I have no idea how they got there.

With a wave of her pink clad hand, the weird looking capitol citizens stood in front of us. Over lunch I had just learned that even at the now crazy Capitol, people were still against the harsh ways of Snow.

"People, this is your prep team," Effie informs us, "Haymitch you will be entertained by Trey," a skinny and overly tall woman steps up and introduces herself to Hay.

Trey had white skin and I don't mean fair skin like merchants', but dyed white skin. She looked like a ghost with her shaved head and white make-up. She also had very creepy looking yellow snake like contacts. Trey escorts Haymitch out of the room.

"Next up is Araxie," a slender woman with sea blue skin approached Kai, "Kai she would be assisting you. Araxie had white hair and bubble tattoos on her arms. She was wearing flip-flops that exposed her feet with were died so they looked like sand. She had an ocean theme going on, on her.

There were five people left, that made me wonder for who else were the capitol people going to assist, "And Finnick you get to have two people for your team at Katniss gets three, since we know she needs the most help," I scowl at the pink doll.

I don't know if she said that because I was the Princess and needed to look my best of if I really did need the most help.

Finnick and I get escorted by our teams to rooms across from each other. I take time to look over my prep team. They had already introduced themselves on the way to the dressing room. There was Venia, a woman with aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyebrows, Octavia, a plump woman whose entire body has been dyed a pale shade of pea green and Flavius, a guy with orange corkscrew curls ad thick lips covered in a purple shade of lipstick. They weren't as bizarre as Trey or Araxie, but they weren't normal either.

R-i-i-i-p! I grit my teeth as Venia yanks a strip of fabric from my leg tearing out the hair beneath it. "Sorry Princess!" she pipes in her silly Capitol accent. "You're just so hairy!" I decide to bite back a comment about letting her try to be on the run and train for eleven years while still caring about body hair.

Venia makes what's supposed to be a sympathetic face. "Good news, though. This is the last one. Ready?" I get a grip on the edges of the table I'm seated on and nod. The final swathe of my leg hair is uprooted in a painful jerk.

Earlier on I was bathed, scrubbed and showered by the three people. I don't have any ideas to what that gritty loam, that had not only removed dirt but also a few layers of my skin, was called. And right now I have been waxed and plucked to perfect hairlessness. My legs, arms, torso, underarms, and parts of my eyebrows have been stripped of the Muff, leaving me stinging and feeling vulnerable with a new layer of skin.

They had cut my nails into perfect shapes and had applied nail art on them. There were tiny vines and flowers climbing on the left side of each finger nail, on to the very last tiny pinky nail I had. They had also massaged my hair with some thick goo that made it seem so much softer and thicker. They didn't need to trim it since it's newly cut and I didn't have split ends.

The few minutes were spent applying cosmetics onto my face. Then Venia led me to corner where a dress coat was hanging. She opened it at brought out a beautiful looking gown. (See the gown here: /image/38158/ just imagine it green).

She helped me slip it on and I was surprised to know it was a perfect fit. "This came all the way from the Capitol, designed by Cinna's Dresses, the best gowns out there." I stare at the whole body mirror and see a woman that mind you is clearly me. I could still make out my features even under the make-up.

But I have to admit the get up looks beautiful even if I wasn't the one in it. My face was covered in ver light make-up. It was some green eye shadow that stretched outside my eyelids, the eyelids were outlines with glitter and the blending made it look like it was permanently stuck to my skin. For a moment I got worried that they had tattooed me without my permission, but relax when I'm sure I didn't feel any needle touch my skin. A blush complemented my sharp cheekbones and red lipstick coated my lips.

The dress… was amazing. It had a corset bodice with lace adorning the tube's top. The corset had to be tied tightly on the back and Venia didn't cut me short. She pulled really hard so now the dark green corset hugged my torso so tight that I could only walk if I stand really straight. The dress was made so that the waist area was tighter giving me more curves than I had. Even though I didn't quite fill up good on the top area the dress looked pretty damn good. The skirt was a bit more complicated. The under layer was made up of ruffles, lot of ruffles that were light green. Then there was a layer of satin with lace ruffles lining a feet of the bottom that were a tad darker and then there was a somewhat cut out like pattern of plain old green cloth that was probably my favorite part.

The patter covered half the skirt with uneven lengths all around. It was made up of flowers and criss-cross patterns that climbed up a little at the front of the bodice. I'm no good at describing these things so I'm not sure I call it right, but one thing for sure the I looked stunning on it not that the dress looked stunning on me.

"You look beautiful, your highness," Venia said after she finished tying up the corset.

"Thank you," I genuinely smile at her.

She took me back to where Octavia and Flavius were waiting. They saw my dress and I received even more compliments before they started with my hair.

I hear the three bickering at the back after a few minutes of them playing with my dark strands.

"What was that?" I ask turning my head back to look at them.

"Well, we didn't expect your hair to be this short and the entire look needed longer hair," Flavius said, his accent lined with dread.

"Can't you change the original plan or something?" I ask.

"Yes we could, but we tried and nothing seemed to match perfectly with the make-up and dress unlike the first idea," Venia said dramatically playing with my hair and tossing it around.

"How about a wig?" That was the first time I had heard Octavia talk. She seemed really shy, but now she gave me the impression that she had the brains.

"Oh that would be perfect," Flavius said as he squealed, his curls bouncing on top of his head.

"Are you okay with that?" Venia asked. She seemed to be the most caring one of the three.

"Sure," I nod. I didn't want to be a party pooper and make them suffer from their lack of creativity ideas.

A few minutes later they had attached a realistic looking wig on my scalp. It didn't bother me since it was the same shade as my natural color, but with the length reaching my waist.

"It was such a waste of time to have fixed your hair only to cover it," Venia said.

Flavius starts to arrange the wig into a good looking messy bun with Venia and Octavia nodding in approval.

I understood that my short hair would never be enough to cater to that great a bun. A few shorter strands were pulled out to frame my face and longer ones fell to cover a bit of my freckled back.

Octavia had given Flavius an elegant looking tiara, "This came from District One". He had expertly woven it into my hair, completing my look. The crown didn't rise above my head. It looked like a thick head band instead, with the sparkly gems.

They had done a few more tough ups and sprayed something all over my hair and face to "preserve" the look.

After circling me for a few times the three finally stepped away and faced me toward another body length mirror. I looked very different. Comparing my usual jeans and T-shirts to the gown and make-up, I look like a different person in the same body, and technically I am. Before I was Katy, the new girl of District Twelve, and now I'm Katniss the Princess.

They asked me to step into three-inch golden heels and handed me my mask. I was happy I could walk on the heels they had or me. I looked back at the mirror, now three inches taller, and slipped on the mask at hand.

The mask covered most my face. It was a butterfly mask, the middle stopped where my nose bridge started and the rest of it going diagonally down away from my nose, exposing little of my blushed cheek. The mask matched the color of my dress. Green. There were small golden feathers outlining the eye holes and had intricate glitter patters coating the whole area.

The top of the mask had a red gem seated on top and had lace outlining the edges. *Just a reminder I have no idea what it really is suppose to look like so you are free to imagine any kind of mask and ignore my stupid description.

Wearing the mask, I am unidentifiable. Most of my features were covered by the mask. My only real identificafion would be my grey eyes, but a lot of other people have this eye color as well. The eye holes were wide so you could still see most of the eyeshadow, it would have been a shame if the masked covered that up. Dang... They did a good job in hiding my identity.

I turn towards my prep team and thank them. I for one, knew how difficult it would have been to transforme me into someone this beautiful looking.

"So what now?"I ask my eyes notmleaving the mirror. No matter what angle I view it, I still can't see any proof that it is me. I could be anyone, just like the plan.

"We take you back to Miss Effie," Flavius said flipping his curls out of his eyes. I groan and I hear Venia chuckle behind me, "Come on Princess, or your going to be late for you own party."

My prep team pointed out a door I scarcely remeber as the path to the living room. I walk through the opened door, not bothering to knock. I am met with the sight of a good looking man wearing a fancy set of tux. I take a once over before the guy takes off his mask and revels no other than Finnick Odair. I should have guessed it sooner, with his bronze hair and tall figure.

"Why who must this beauty be?" Finnick gives me a wink and kisses my hand,"You look beautiful Katniss."

I smack his arm. He laughs and gracefully takes my mask off,"With or without the mask." I grab my mask from him, but he keeps it out of my reach. Why do boys have to be so tall? I manage to see my opening and use his shoulders for support as I jump the highest I can. My fingers grab a hold of the nylon that binds it.

I drop down and slip on my mask, "Why thank you dear Sir," I curtsy whilst grabbing on to his offered arm. I link my arm onto his and join in on his laughter.

"Has the party started ?" I ask looking around for either Haymitch of Kai. The party was to be held at the Odairs' ballroom, a few doors away.

"Yes, for a few minutes now actually," He leads me outside, to the hallway.

"Oh, we better hurry. We all no how dreadful it is to be behind schedule," I say mocking Effie's accent.

Finnick laughs. We walk up to the stair case. The great crystal chandelier now lit with bright lights.

We climb to the second story. On the top, giant oak door are guarded by two men in uniforms. You could hear the muted sound of music and the chattering of people. Finnick nods to both of them, in return they tip their hats. They open the double doors and let the light and sound of the party flood outside towards us. Finnick managed to slip on his mask before we enter the ballroom. "You ready?" Finnick asks. I give him a nod as we walk, the mighty doors closing behind us.

We find ourselves on the balcony, over looking the party proper. We make our way to a few scattered couches where I find a man who I suspect is Haymitch. I almost laugh at the sight of Hay all dressed up.

I take my seat in between Finnick and Haymitch, "You look decent Sweetheart, for once."

I scowl at him," And you look surprisingly less Haymitch-y in rich clothes."

I didn't notice we had company. On one of the single chairs sits Effie, clipboard at hand, posture at place. It was super easy to spot a pink lady, masked or free. I see Kai, no doubt, parked beside her and a few men I don't manage to identify.

I wave a hand at Kai who gives me that dashing Odair smile. Haymitch draws my attention and introduces the guys in front of us. They remove their masks as Haymitch tells me their names.

I don't get to remember them after they shake my hand and shower me with compliments. "Oh it is an honor Miss." "Glad you made it." "You look like your mother." I looked skeptically at the woman who said that. How does she know? She can't even see my face.

I sit bored, in the middle of the adults talking about the rebels on each district. I look over and notice Finnick was no longer at my side.

I stand from my seat and pat Haymitch's shoulder, telling him that I was going to explore. I walked up to the tinted glass panes that seperate the balcony from the nothingness above the people chatting, dining and dancing.

I observe the wonderful ceiling above. Designs and patterns fill up the concrete skies. I stare specifically at a tree painted opposite from where I was at. A little bird, a mockingjay pearches it self on one of the branches, nothes of music escaping it's opened beak. I get lost in the painting and jumped when I feel somebody's hands on my shoulder.

I turn my head to come to face with a Finnick, mask resting on top of his hed, other arm wrapped around a petite woman's waist.

"Katniss, let me introduce my lovely fiance, Annie," Annie lifts her mask, showing her gentle features. She gives me a shy smile. She had beautiful green eyes, close to the shade of Finnick's. Her long brown hair pinned away from her face, going down her back in ringlets. She didn't have much make-up which showed off her natural beauty.

Annie was sweet and cute. Her relationship with Finnick matched with Madge and Gale's.

I chatted with Annie who seemed a bit spaced out, but was able to make good conversation. She would be good for Finnick, someone he could protect. After a few minutes Annie excused herself to go to the powder room.

"So what do you think?" Finnick leans on the glass railing beside me, staring at the area where Annie is now long gone.

"She's beautiful no doubt," I take a peek at Finnick's expression. He has a ghost of a smile playing on his sleeps, "and compliments you perfectly."

Finnick smiles at me,"Come on. After she gets back you could head over to Haymitch for the highlight of the night."

I play with my fingers as I stand on a stage like area on the balcony. Dark drapes cover the crowd of awaiting people from my sight. The plan was to introduce me as the princess and I would go wonder around greeting people I do not know, say encouraging stuff and blah blah blah.

I could hear Kai's voice from across the dark curtains. He was happily joking with the crowd. After a few more greetings he introduces Haymitch, who was assumingly standing beside him. I get a little fidgety and start to count the dark flowers imprinted on the drapes.

Inhale. Exhale. I close my eyes and focus on the array of foods waiting for me. I had spotted the large feast on my way there. I'll simply smile at the crowd and stealthily make my way to the tables and stuff my mouth. See? I could do this...

I stop my train of thought when I begin to notice the curtains seperating. Darn, I had missed my own introduction. I fix a smile on my face and tame the invisible wrinkles on my skirt. I stare at the point diagonally below me until the curtains are fully drawn.

A large round of claps follow and I turn my head to stare and smile at the crowd of what I think is well over a hundred. I notice the sincerety in their smiles and eyes. I'm uneasy at the attention as I am used to trying to be invisible.

I don't remeber most of the minutes that passed as I made my way down to greet the awaiting folks. The attention dismissed when Haymitch gave a little speech and announced that we should all celebrate, music coming from the walls as most people gather around to dance some stupid moves. I got uncomfortable and hot in my dress and made my beeline to the banquet after the nth person to shake my hand or shower me with kisses and hugs.

I first grab a weird looking glass filled with pink liquid. I take a hesistant sip and cringe. Setting the glass down, I grabbed a napkin and oh so elegantly, sarcasm, wiped my tongue. I stop and freeze noticing my lack of manners and shyly scan the area for any disgusted remarks. I let out a sigh of relief when nobody seemed to notice.

I look back at the refreshments and I just noticed the signs stating which drinks are alcoholic. I mentally curse at myself for not noticing sooner.

I turn and walk away from the hard drinks and grab a glass of innocent sparkling yellow liquid. I sip at the delicious lemon-ish drink. I gulp down my present glass and grab another one as I scanned over the available food, which mind you was alot.

I mindlessly eat a few chosen "safe" foods and enjoy myself when I hear someone come beside me, "Ah, I wouldn't eat that if I were you."

I set down the finger food on my well, fingers and turn to see an intimidating looking woman in black. She had a tight evening gown on and a small mask covering only the north part of her face.

"My name's Johanna Mason, District Seven," I reach out to shake her hand and raise my eyebrows, tilting my head to gesture to the food I was about to eat.

"Your majesty," she starts. I scowl at her," I would much prefer Katniss." "Okay, Katniss. That my dear, was seasoned sea slug," she points her long finger at the entire set. I scrunch my face, i thought I was some sort of jelly. " Who would eat that?"

She gives me sly smile and gesture to the people dancing behind her,"Them." I shake my head and proceed to the next table, hoping not to engage conversation, however I am unlucky, " Don't I deserve a thank you?"

I roll my eyes at Johanna," Thank you," I mock,"Umm excuse me for a moment. I break my gaze away from her to turn to a group of elderly looking masked ladies who had tapped my shoulder. I spend a minute hugging each one as they thank me for being alive. I inwardly comment on that stupid thought.

I decline their offer to the dancefloor and turn back to Johanna, who was mysteriously not there anymore. That girl was very... Weird and obscure. I shrug it off and go back to my eating. The next minutes passed with me greeting more people and waving at Finnick and Annie, who were dancing together. The music changed to a slower beat and a few men elegantly dressed asked for a dance. I knew better to decline and I ended up actually using the useless dancing lessons Haymitch has given to me.

I begin to get uncomfortable at the third dance and excuse myself to grab a drink and sit on one of the many scattered tables surrounding the floor.I walk over to the table farthest away from the crowd and set the lemon drink down.

I use this time to hide from the public and observe the situation. Most of the people were dancing on the center, the music changing to a festive beat. They looked happy. I look for Haymitch and find him at the other side of the room, being scolded by a pink Effie. I manage to wave when he catches my eye. He scowls at my laughing face and goes back to his boring lecture. I spot Johanna Mason in the shadows with a pink filled glass at hand. She was talking/flirting with a man whose back was towards me.

I stare at both of them for a few seconds when a dancing couple passes my line of vision. By the time the path had cleared, the man was now standing alone, no Johanna at sight. I got creeped out at how fast she could move.

I see a few people in groups chatting away and a few hungry bodies eating away. Most of the people here looked older than me, like really older. They probably were people who had really missed the times before Snow's rule.

I play with the feathers of my mask, letting my fingers graze it's smooth fibers. My mind concentrates at the pattern the floor tiles formed.

I know I have spaces out when I feel a tap on my shoulder followed by,"Umm, your highnesss?" I barely hear the voice, but had managed to snap out of my daze. I clear my throat and fake a cough and fix my mask, which was now a bit tilted to the right. I tilt my head downwards embarrassed about me spacing out for who knows how long.

I turn towards the person who might have been waiting for some time. I look up cautiously, but that didn't prepare me to see who was infront of me. Right there, right then, I looked up to see the unmistakable blue eyes of Peeta Mellark.

I turn back immeadiately to face the table and gulp down half of my once full drink. I ended up choking a bit and started a coughing fit. Shaking my head I felt another tap on my shoulder," Miss Katniss, are you all right?"

Miss Katniss? Oh thank god! I had forgotten I was wearing a mask,"I'm fine." I made my voice go an octave higher and faked an accent.

I slowly turn back to Peeta, hiding my face in the least obvious way. By now I was sure it was him with the fast glimpse of those eyes I already knew, but that was most certainly Peeta's voice.

I was still sitting down with a masked Peeta stood in front of me, "My name is Peeta Mellark." I nod at him as I bit back an I-already-know comment. Peeta awkwardly cleared his throat and wiped his hands on the sides of his shirt. This caused me to take a look at his get-up. He wore navy blue tux and a bow tie. His normally messy curls were now gelled back making his azure eyes clearer than ever.

"May I have this dance?" He asks all of the sudden. So that was why he was nervous. I mean he was about to ask the princess for a dance. I have another short battle concerning this boy. Part of me wanted to run for the nearest exit, which wasn't very far and a tiny part of me wants to not seem rude and just say yes. Peeta looks anxious as he looks anywhere but my face.

I also scan the room, and I should not have, because I ended up making eye contact with Effie who was giving me glare. I immeadiatley stand and face Peeta who had jumped a little when I stood in front of him.

"I would be most delighted," I try my hardest to mask my voice. Peeta gives me his big grin and offers his hand. I had just noticed that the music had changed into what I think suppose to be couples' dance. I gulp and take a deep breath. I stare at the dancing people. Most were dancing elegantly with their partners, but there was one pair who danced professionaly. Most of the attention was focused on the spotlighted pair which I am greatful for.

Peeta somehow noticed my nervousness,"You don't really have to dance, your highness. I would not be offended." I look at his face at the side of my vision, he seemed a little down, but still kept a small smile. I swallow my worries. If he hasn't caught me yet, he probably won't ever. I pull him to an empty spot on the floor and position my hand on his shoulder and the other holding his.

We took a few simple waltz steps with him leading. I make sure to tilt my face at some angles to make sure he doesn't have a full view of my face. He doesn't seem to bothered by it,"So you're the Katniss Everdeen, huh?"

I laugh at this and he smiles at me," We all thought you died back then." He spins me as I held back a grin. I hope I looked as unidentifiable as I had pressumed. "You are an exellent dancer," I said as he spins me again and leads a few more complicated steps. He chukles," Well, you're not so bad yourself." It was me who chukled this time,"Yeah right."

We dance for the rest of the song with the steps getting more complicated each minute. We exchange a few comments here and there and then for a moment, a slight moment I had almost forgot that i was wearing a mask and he didn't know who I was.

The next song started playing and we ended up dancing to it again. I didn't talk to him and he stopped talking to me, all that was there was tension. Not bad tension, but thick tension. I didn't know I still had dancing inside of me, but he managed to bring it out. We danced and danced and I felt myself liking the feeling of him holding me.

Peeta never once broke eye contact and I had fully stopped hiding my face. His gaze made me flush a little, but I didn't want to look away either. I could feel heat spreading from where his hands would touch my waist and tingles where his breath would occasionally caress my face when he brought me close. I could feel my heart getting faster as the song slows down. His eyes, so blue. I forget about the other people, I forget about the masks and imagine his handsome face free of any covers and his eyes shinning as they meet mine.

The song slows to an end and Peeta boldy dipps me. I am in too much of a haze to feel scared. Adrenaline rushed through me as his strong arms wrapped around my waist. My head almost touched the ground and Peeta held me for a bit longer before gracefully pulling me face to face with him. Blue. That was all I could see. I could feel his fast breathing as the air fans my now very close face. My breathing was labored from all that dancing, but I didn't pull away. My sense of smell floods with the scent of I don't know what, but it smelled good, so good. I unconciously lick my lips and his gaze followed the sudden movement

He was so close...and he was getting closer. I feel one of his hands move up to cup the back of my head, pulling me close

Peeta Mellark was going to kiss me,

and I was letting him.

My eyes flutter close

when,

BANG!

Somebody behind me crashed into me causing me to trip towards Peeta who immeadiately caught me in his arms. "Uhg," the woman who was still leaning on my back said. I laugh at this as shen says a shy sorry and gets off my back.

I wish she hadn't done that, not because it interrupted our moment but because I felt a little tug and I heard a little snap and my mask went down because that.

I can only stare,frozen in shock, as I realize that the woman's hair pin must have caught my mask strap. I feel the sudden exposure of my once covered face and I see in slow motion as the mask falls down infront of me. I curse softly to myself as the world stops for a moment. I didn't have time to react when I heard a voice from infront of me,

"Katy?"

**AN: Sorry for the late update and the lame-ish chapter... I have a good reason though, my laptop charger broke! And now I had to buy a new one, which was hard to find. There was also bad weather and the internet signal in our area went a little downhill. So I had internet problems again. Thank you for your patience. I had trouble writing romantic scene so you probably can't feel the invisible emotion -.-.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! So to all of you who didn't, review too!**


	13. Chapter 11

_"People build up walls not to keep others out but to see cares enough to break them down"_

Peeta's POV

I leaned forward getting ready to kiss the princess when Katniss suddenly slams right into me. I catch her in my arms as the woman who had bumped into her let out a groan, Katniss laughs at that. Gosh I love her laugh... The woman says sorry as she steps away from the accident.

The next thing I know is the sound of something hitting the floor. I look down at Katniss in my arms and see a maskless woman in front of me, looking straight at my chest with a dead shocked expression. For a fraction of a second I feel excited to see the woman I was about to kiss, she looked very beautiful even with the mask on.

I hear her curse and mentally smile at the not so innocent royal, I think she doesn't notice as I tilt her face upward so I could see her features. I stop dead,

"Katy?"

Standing in front of me was supposed to be Katniss Everdeen, lost princess of Panem, but I find myself standing in front of Katy Rowan, the new girl. I step back a little confused, is the princess really dead? Is Katy an imposter? Or is she really Katniss? How did I not guess it sooner?

I'm still in state of shock when Katy or Katniss or whatever sped through the crowd and rushed out of the room. I take a step to go after her when my brain suddenly bangs into skull. I manage a soft hiss and bring my hand up to my head. The woman from earlier repeatedly apologizes to me and helps me sit down. I manage a slight thank you and send her off before the pain returns. I close my eyes and my mind immeadiately goes to Katniss.

I had noticed her from the moment those curtains were drawn. She looked good in her dress and you could tell she was gorgeous.

I followed her with my gaze as she talked to strangers who kissed and hugged her. I could tell from her expression that she felt uncomfortable.

I watched her as she spit out an alcoholic drink into a table napkin and checked to see if no one was looking. I was there when Johanna Mason talked to her and when a few men asked her out to dance.

Katniss Everdeen, the out of place woman who was just sitting down at her own party. I had swallowed the jitters and asked her to dance. And we danced and we almost kissed...

Then my trail of thought turns to Katy Rowan, the girl who had caught me staring on the first day of school. The beautiful newbie who Ren and Lin invited to our table. Katy, the girl who had kicked me on the jaw and elbowed me on the ribs. I had spent the afternoon with her and walked her home. My newest friend. How did I not know who she was?

My mind goes back a few to Katy's beautiful face. Even with the make-up and the long hair, she was still Katy... She looked so much more beautiful with her fierce grey eyes and her long hair and elegant gown. My head starts to hurt again as the picture of Katniss or Katy or whatever morphs into one of a small girl beside a tall woman. I focus on the alternating images as my head litteraly kills me. I don't remember who she is... I scrunch my face up as my head hurts again.

I ignore the person who started shaking me. I hear the faint, distant sound of Uncle's voice. I don't manage to understand it. I let out a tiny yelp as the pain begins to subside and I immeadiately stood up from the chair, eyes wide and breath labored. I ignore the sudden pain at my fast movement.

Uncle immeadiately tells me to sit back down after asking if I was okay. I manage to dismiss his means of sitting me back down and look around. Most of the attention was focused on me because of my sudden accident or whatever. I ignore the stares and begin my way running along the path that Katy... No Katniss took. I hear the distant yells, but I yell back a response about being fine and not to worry.

I run outside and see that it leads to the beach. I follow the footprints in the sand as I ran even when my lungs burn.

_ It's all clear now, Katniss was Katy all along. And I had known her before._

I continue running and my side begins to hurt.

_ Long ago, buried deep in my lost emories she was the beautiful princess I had seen at the bakery._

How far had she reached? I continue running.

_ That was why she was so freakin familiar to me._

And I run some more.

_Katy Rowan is Katniss Everdeen, the lost Princess_.

I let out a little laugh of hope when I see the unmistakable distant figure of Katniss as she slowly walks down the seashore. Thank the gods she had stopped running. I gear into a full out sprint,"KATNISS!"

Nobody's POV

The crowd turns their attention to a man in terrible looking pain. His loud yelps echo through the now silent ballroom. An older man seems to know the boy in pain and tries to shake him and asks the boy for any responses. None. Most of the women in the room were worried. Holding on to their dance partners.

This goes on for a few minutes when the boy suddenly jolts up and pauses only to run to the direction of the Princess who had made a scene a few minutes back. A few words were yelled as the boy disappears outside.

Kai immeadiately controls the situation and talks into the microphone, "Settle down everybody. It seems that there is some drama in the dance floor," laughs erupte from the crowd as he manages to joke at a tension filled situation. The man who had talked to the boy approached the stage and whipered at Kai's ears.

"Okay, it seems as that the boy from earlier had a head ache due to medical condition and I am sure that our Highness just needed some fresh air, it is getting a bit hot in here. I would want a walk too, but I guess that isn't happening soon."

The crowd responds to his joke and he further tells everyone to continue the merriment or the celebration as some announcements on the "situation" will be announced. Nobody chased after the couple and the room was filled with noise once more.

Katniss' POV

I run and run and run.

Away from my own party and away from Peeta. I am overwhelmed with anger mixed with saddness and frustration. Why had I let my guard down? I could have been more careful and stop the incident from happening, and maybe just maybe Peeta would have kissed me. I slow down to depressed steps. Peeta would hate me now! I had lied about everything. I picture his disgusted face when he puts it all together and sees how sick I am. I kick the sand under me, frustrated. I had just admitted my feelings to myself when I let him kiss me... Almost kiss me.

I let out a sad yelp as I shut my eyes and clench my fists, dragging my feet under me. I messed up... Alot.

I feel awful and...and guilty and frustrated and anxious. I make slow steps to the unknown darkness infront of me, only the moon as my source of light. I would have been enjoying the ocean view if not for the awefull situation I had sqeezed myself in. I manage a few small steps when I hear the heavy running steps and Peeta calling my name.

I turn around, ready to face his wrath. I deserve his anger at me. I had deceived him. But I had miscalculated the situation, because as Peeta sprints towards me it is not anger or annoyance that greeted me it was his strong arms around me and his lips on mine.

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